Medical Testing

Just when we were starting to see COVID and RSV rates drop this spring, another type of virus contributed to a spike in respiratory infections Symptoms of human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, include cough, fever, nasal congestion, and shortness of breath. Yahoo News

...

Cases of another type of respiratory virus spiked this spring, just as COVID-19 and RSV rates were finally falling in the US.

Paxlovid slashed risk of COVID hospital stay in some patients amid Omicron, study suggests CIDRAP

The antiviral drug Paxlovid was tied to a 96% lower relative risk (RR) of COVID-19 hospitalization among high-risk outpatients who didn't complete a primary vaccination series but didn't benefit those who had received at least two doses amid the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, according to a real-world study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

....

What the end of the covid public health emergency means for you Here’s how major health policies will be affected when the covid public health emergency ends on on May 11. Washington Post

...

As this long emergency period expires, experts say, the biggest impact for consumers will be the end of free coronavirus tests — both at-home tests and those performed by clinicians and analyzed by commercial labs — with broad implications for people’s ability to get timely covid diagnoses, prevent disease transmission and track the virus.

...